Only five days after the League Championship had been
snatched from under their noses Unitedís players strode
out at Wembley for their first-ever FA Cup Final appearance.

They had booked their place with a last-gasp back-header
from Billy Bremner in the replayed Semi-Final against
Manchester United and now faced the mighty Reds of Liverpool, the championship
winners of the previous season.

Liverpoolwere
without Gordon Milne and ex-Arsenal striker Geoff Strong took his place at
right-half. United were at full strength with Willie Bell and Jim Storrie returning after missing the encounter with BirminghamCity.

Prospects of a close contest looked good, but Leeds
froze on the occasion, leaving the more experienced Liverpool
to dominate the midfield. Unitedís veteran 34
year-old Bobby Collins, struggled on a soddened surface and could not bring
wingers Giles and Johanneson into the game. He was
lucky to stay on the pitch, as the referee was extremely lenient with him as he
went over the ball in his first tackle leaving Gerry Byrne, the Liverpool
left-back, in a crumpled heap, but the defender carried on despite suffering a
broken collarbone.

The rain poured down relentlessly and it was Willie
Stevenson who constantly stole the limelight with incisive runs from midfield
to keep a constant supply of the ball to his forwards. United toiled under
pressure and only a series of fine saves by Gary Sprake
enabled Leeds to stay in the game and send the game into extra time for the
first time since 1947.

United had Jim Storrie hobbling on
one wing and Albert Johanneson overawed by the
occasion on the other, leaving Alan Peacock to battle on alone against the
redoubtable Liverpool defence led by their towering captain, Ron Yeats.

While the 90 minutes had been very tame and unadventurous,
the extra time was all action. Only three minutes had gone when the brave Gerry
Byrne crossed the ball for Roger Hunt to dive in and head Liverpool
into the lead. Eight minutes later and United snatched an equaliser. Big Jack
Charlton joined in the attack and rose to head the ball down for Billy Bremner to unleash a fearful half-volley to give Tommy
Lawrence in the Liverpool goal no chance.

With just nine minutes remaining United found themselves
behind again and this time there was no way back. Ian Callaghanís superb cross
eluded the United defence and Ian St John smacked in
the header which took the FA Cup back to Anfield.

Leeds never did themselves justice on the greatest afternoon
in the clubís history as they seemed to freeze below the famous twin towers and
while Sprake performed wonders to keep the game
scoreless in normal time and Jack Charlton was a tower of strength in defence
it was left to Bremner and Collins to fight a lone
battle in midfield to try and spark life into a remarkably lethargic team.
While Albert Johanesson was totally overawed by the
occasion, Jim Storrie obviously carried an injury
into the game and spent most of the game a limping passenger on the wing and Unitedís wing threat was reduced to nothing, leaving them
without their most potent weapon and taking away Alan Peacockís supply line.

Having missed out on the League title by 0.686 of a goal and
the FA Cup in extra-time it had been a double heartbreak for Leeds,
a situation they would learn to live with in the next decade.